Humidifier



May 2, 1933. W 1 HALL 1,907,104

HUMIDIFIER Filed Feb. i9, 195o 2 sheets-sheet' l VYVWVV l i l l i i bMay 2, 1933. WY 1l HALL 1,907,104

HUMIDIFIER Filed Feb. 19, 1930 2 Sheets-Shea?. 2

M9 fw@ Patented May 2, 1933 UNITED STATES.

marie WILLIAM JOHN HALL, or TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA'` HUMIDIFIERApplication led February `19, 1930, Serial No. 429,785, and in CanadaNovember` 6, 1929.

The principal objects of the invention are to overcome many of thedifficulties met with in supplying vapour to the air of livingapartments and to provide a device which will operate in all types offurnaces to provide a uniform moisture content in the air of the livingapartment. Y

A still further object is to eliminate the danger due to eitherfreezing, flooding or eX- plosion and to pro-vide a device which will beeasily installed at moderate cost.

The principal features of the invention consist in the novelconstruction of a vapourizing member and the construction andarrangement of the means for feeding water to the vapourizer andconducting the vapour therefrom, whereby the vapour is produced by aflash method of dropping small quantities of water upon a heated surfaceand the vapour is carried from the generator close to the point ofproduction.

In the drawings, Figure l is a sectional elevational view of a furnace-showing my improved humidifying apparatus applied i thereto.

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional detail through thehumidifying apparatus.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3 3 of Figure '2.

Figure 4 is a sectional detail of the water feed control taken on theline 4 4 of Figure 3.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the generator 1 is in the formof a. heavy metal casting here shown of a convergent horizontal sectionand in vertical section of an inverted LY-shape.

The interior chamber 2 is provided with a curved bottom wall 3 curvingupwardly from the well 4 to a substantially horizontal chamber 5adjacent to the top. A transverse rib 6 projects upwardly from the wall3 toward its upper end.

A pipe connection 7 is threaded into an opening 8 at the upper end ofthe vertical wall 9 of the generator and supports the generator withinthe furnace ire-boX 10.

A casting 11 is secured to the outer' endy of the pipe connection 7 andthe bottom wall opening 13 is provided in the casting 11 substantiallyopposite to the pipe connection 7 and slightly lower than same to whichan overiiow pipe 14 is connected. v

A drain plug 15 is arranged in the bottom 55 of the well 12 to allow thecasting to be cleaned out.

A threaded opening 16 in the top of the casting 11 has connected theretothe tube- 17 which conducts the vapour upwardly to a 6o suitabledischarge member 18 which is preferably arranged in the floor of theapartment above the furnace.

Inthe upper wall of the casting'll there is formed a. chamber 19 whichextends partly o5 beneath the opening 16 and the tube 17 and at theforward end of which is secured a small v tube 20, which extendsforwardly through the pipe connection 7 and into the vapour chamber 5 ofthergenerator.

A small chamber 21 is formed in the casting 11 beside the chamber 19 andan open troughshaped tube 22 is secured therein and eX- tends parallelwith the tube 20, the inward end thereof extending beyond the tub 6, so'15 that water dripping from the endwill fall on the curved surface 3above saidirib.

A cup 23 is secured in the top openingV of the chamber 21. Y

A water feed pipe 24 is here'shown supported by a short closed length ofpipe 25 froma boss 26 arranged on one side of the casting 11' and thepipe 24 extending upward- Y ly from the boss supports a valve 27 bymeans of which the Vflow of water to the vapourizer is regulated. Thisvalve is connected with the feed pipe 24 by the length of pipe 24 and isprovided with a threaded valve member 28 within the body which regulatesthe flow of water from the passage 30 to the portion 31 `which extendsover the cup 23.

The pipe 24 is preferably extended downwardly to form a sediment chamberclosedby a removable plug 29 at the bottom.

A cup member 32 formed with a centrally vJ5 supported threaded nipple 83and open at the top is arranged centrally over the cup. The vwater iirstiills the cup then flows over the edge and drips from the tapered point34.

This arrangement for the drip prevents corrosion of a small hole throughwhich the water moves very slowly, thus ensuring the continuingoperation of the device. e

Within the casting 11 is arranged an apronlike partition 37 whichextends in front of the overflow connection and is provided with an airhole 38 above its bottom edge. s

The arrangement of the apron .partition 37 and the air hole therethroughpreventsv the syphoning of water from the casting 11 and the generator,but the overflow takes care of any excess of water rising above thebottom of the pipe 7.

In the operation of this device the flow of water to the drip-cup isregulated by the operation of the valve member 28.' l The water drippinginto the cap 23rcan always be seen so as to determine whether or not itis operating and the water flowing into the cup 23 flows through thetrough-shaped tube 22 which is left open in trough form so that it willnot corrode or choke and also so that the water will vaporize when thetube gets hot as it sometimes will. The drip of water from the end ofthe tube 22 falling uponthe casting 11 which is arranged above the firein the furnace, is immediately vaporized, and the vapour generated inthe horizontal chamber 5 finds its way immediately through the tube 2Oand chamber 19 to the tube 39 extending upwardly from the chamber 19within the tube 17. The flow of hot vapour through this tube acts as aninspirator to draw cooler vapour from the remaining body of thegenerator through the pipe 7 and cast ing 11 up through the tube 17, andat the top of the tube 18 the two streams of'vapour unite and arecarried upwardly to a suitable discharge member from whence they aredistributed into the apartment.

The device is very simple and compact. It is easy to install. Thegenerator casting is of a heavy metal of a uniform cross-section whichwill stand the intense heat of the firebox without fracture and it willreadily absorb the heat rising from the fire and not only vaporizes thedropping water, but also conducts heat to `water which may be containedin the lower portion thereof.

It will be understood that the fire may be very low during mild weatheror may veven be extinguished without the necessity of cutting off thewater supply to the vaporizer, and when such condition arises the waterfills up the lower portion of the L-shape compartment in the vaporizerand overflows in through the tube 7 into the casting 11 and thn findsits way out through the overflow tu e. Y

Any suitable type of control valve may be employed and the conduction ofheat from the casting 11 to the column of water in the supply pipe andconsequently to the valve casing will be minimized by the provision ofthe air seal in the closed length of supporting pipe 25. However it willbe understood that it is within the scope of the invention that theconduction of heat from the casting 11 may be utilized to operate andcontrol a thermostatic valve.

The device is inexpensive and is very efficient. Y

It will be readily understood that if the generator 1 is not hot enoughto immediately vaporize the water dripping thereon it will spread alongthe surface of the casting forward of the rib 6 so that its downwarddescent will be temporarily checked and will be distributed laterallyoverthe hotter upper portion of the curved wall.

fA device such as described v'will operate successfully with coal firesor oil burners and will maintain a vapour temperature in the apartmentabove with very light fire.

That l claim as my invention is -V 1. A humidifier, comprising a hollowgenerator having an upwardly curving wall terminating in a horizontalchamber, a pipe for supporting said generator in a furnace and leadingfrom the top thereof, a casting secured to said pipe having a hollowbody provided withV a trapped overflow, a vapour'tube leading upwardlyfrom the topvof said casting, a vapour chamber formed inthe top of thelatter casting, a pipe leading into said vapour tube from the latterchamber, a pipe leading from the horizontal vapour chamber of thegenerator to the vapour chamber in said casting, and means for feedingwater into the horizontal vaporizing chamber of the generator.

2. A humidifier in combination with a walled combustion chamber'comprising Va closed generator chamber having a flash zone therein, atubular extension projecting through a wall of the combustion chamber,ak vapor tube leading from said generator through said tubularextension, a tube conducting water through said tubular extension intothe interior of the generating chamber and terminating above said flashzone, said Vvapour tube and water conducting tube having spaced relationto the inner wall of said tubular conduit leaving an openingtherethrough, andV means for supplying a restricted flow of water tosaid conducting tube, the inner end of said vapour tube terminating inan open end at the flash zone in close proximity to the inner end ofsaid water tube whereby it receives the flash vapour immediately toconduct same outwardly, said tubular extension being adapted to conductthe remaining vaporized or unvaporized wa@ ter from the interior of saidgenerator cha-mber.

3. A humidifier in combination with a walled combustion chambercomprising a closed generator chamber having a flash zone therein, atubular extension projecting Athrough a wall ofthe combustion chamber,

a vapor tube leading from said generator through said tubular extension,a tube conducting water through said tubular extension into the interiorof the generating chamber, means for supplying a regulated How of waterto said conducting tube, a vapour conducting tube receiving the vapourfrom said vapour tube, a main vapour conducting tube into which saidvapour-conducting tube discharges its vapour, said main-conducting tubebeing connected with the generator chamber interior through said tubularex tension whereby it receives a secondary flow of vapour from theinterior of the generator chamber.

4. A humidier, in combination with a combustion chamber, comprising aclosed casing mounted therein having an upwardly curving bottom wallfacing the combustion zone and presenting a convex inner surface, meansfor feeding water in drops, conducting means receiving said water dropsand extending over the upper region of the convex surface of saidupwardly curving wall and depositing the water drops thereon, wherebythe deposited water drops will bevdistributed downwardly bygravitational action over the convex surface of said curving wall inextended heat exchange contact, means co-operating with said convexsurface for eii'ecting a lateral distribution of the unvaporizedportions of said deposited water, and means for conducting the resultantsteam or vapour fromthe interior of the casing.

5. A humidifier, in combination with a combustion chamber, comprising agenerator casing having an upwardly curved bottom wall facing thecombustion zone, said curved bottom wall having a raised transverse ribon the inward side, a conduit extending into said generator andterminating above the upper portion of said curved wall beyond said rib,control means for supplying water to said conduit in a quantity to causethe same to drop from the inner end of said conduit, said transverse ribserving to temporarily check the downward descent of the water notimmediately vapourized and to distribute the same laterally, and meansfor conducting the resultant steam and vapour from said casing.

6. A humidier, comprising a generator chamber having a tubularextension, a vapour tube leading from said generator chamber throughsaid tubular extension, a tube directing water inwardly through saidtubular extension to said generating chamber, a water supply, a valveconnectedwith said water supply, a cup member mounted below said valveand having a closed bottom, a nozzle receiving water from said valve,said nozzle projecting into said cup and discharging the received waterthereinto adjacent the bottom of the cup, said cup being adapted todischarge the received water therefrom over the edge thereof, and asecond cup mounted below the aforesaid cup and receiv ing the overflowtherefrom, said second cup being connected at the bottom with said waterIl OO Cil Tic

